1960

After my classnote appeared on widows, I received a poignant letter from a divorcee, who once played a role in our class activities. To spare feelings, as in the widows column, I won't use names but think it fitting to print parts of it.

"There is, of course, another way that women lose their Dartmouth husbandswith the stroke of pen in a divorce court, in a proceeding perhaps not of their choosing," she writes.

"In our society widows are treated kindly and solicitously, and they often remain a part of their husband's circle of friends, welcome and invited, even if their connections to the group were tenuous. Ex-wives are treated entirely differently—we are the ones who 'die' in the ex's group relationships... Yet we hold many of the same wonderful memories of time spent in Hanover and with Dartmouth friends. We're still part of the clan—we send our sons and daughters to Dartmouth gladly—yet we are mostly no longer present in the class...

"I know many ex-wives of the class of 1960 for whom the shock of being summarily removed from the group (to put it gently) was a real source of sadness and hurt...

"All I ask is that you think as kindly of us ex-wives as you do the widows, even though that is rather counter to our cultural norms. Our feelings for Dartmouth, if not our man of Dartmouth,' may well run just as true and deep as any...l have no specific suggestions or requests except one...I wish that ex-wives and ex-husbands would be included in obits (unless murder or other mayhem has been committed!). We were once legitimate and vital parts of the lives of those being memorialized. We bore their children and shared their lives. To be obliterated without the slightest trace is an insult and cruel. We deserve better."

Otherwise, Steve Carroll, in a nice note, reports his knee replacement operation was a success. "I left the hospital after three days- four days earlier than planned," he writes, "(and now) I'm pretty much able to do whatever I need to."

Kenneth Weg, who has played a key role in the management of Bristol-Myers Squibb for over a decade, has been named to the board of directors of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. He is also a trustee of the medical center at Princeton and the New Jersey public broadcasting system. Many of us who went to Hanover for homecoming greatly enjoyed, during the post-game party, seeing the new home being built by Rick Roesch and his wife, Linda, very close to the Appalachian Trail a few miles outside Hanover.

5522 Nagle Ave., Van Nuys, CA 91401; (818) 994-9231 (h); (213) 237-4712 (fax);

Bob Conklin '60 flourishes, P. 48